Antimicrobial activity, physical-chemical and activity antioxidant of honey samples of Apis mellifera from different regions of Paraná, Southern Brazil

Honey's Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties: A Bibliometric Study

Research attention has been drawn to honey's nutritional status and beneficial properties for human health. This study aimed to provide a bibliometric analysis of honey's antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The research advancements within this field from 2001 to 2022 were addressed using the Scopus database, R, and VOSviewer. Of the 383 results, articles (273) and reviews (81) were the most common document types, while the annual growth rate of published manuscripts reached 17.5%. The most relevant topics about honey's antimicrobial and antioxidant properties were related to the agricultural and biological sciences, biochemistry, and pharmacology. According to a keyword analysis, the most frequent terms in titles, abstracts, and keywords were honey, antimicrobial, antioxidant, bee, propolis, phenolic compounds, wound, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and polyphenols. A trend topic analysis showed that the research agenda mainly encompassed antioxidants, pathogens, and anti-infection and chemical agents. In a co-occurrence analysis, antioxidants, anti-infection agents, and chemistry were connected to honey research. The initial research focus of this domain was primarily on honey's anti-inflammatory and antineoplastic activity, wound healing, and antibacterial agents. The research agenda was enriched in the subsequent years by pathogens, propolis, oxidative stress, and flavonoids. It was possible to pinpoint past trends and ongoing developments and provide a valuable insight into the field of honey research.

Physicochemical Profile, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Honeys Produced in Minas Gerais (Brazil)

Honeys can be classified as polyfloral or monofloral and have been extensively studied due to an increased interest in their consumption. There is concern with the correct identification of their flowering, the use of analyses that guarantee their physicochemical quality and the quantification of some compounds such as phenolics, to determine their antioxidant and antimicrobial action. This study aims at botanical identification, physicochemical analyses, and the determination of total polyphenols, chromatographic profile and antiradical and antimicrobial activity of honey from different regions of Minas Gerais. Seven different samples were analyzed for the presence of pollen, and color determination. The physicochemical analyses performed were total acidity, moisture, HMF, reducing sugar, and apparent sucrose. The compound profile was determined by UHPLC/MS, the determination of total phenolics and antiradical activity (DPPH method) were performed by spectrophotometry, and minimum inhibitory and bacterial concentrations were determined for cariogenic bacteria. All honey samples met the quality standards required by international legislation, twenty compounds were detected as the main ones, the polyfloral honey was the only honey that inhibited all of the bacteria tested. Sample M6 (Coffee) was the one with the highest amount of total polyphenols, while the lowest was M4 (Cipó-uva). Regarding the antioxidant activity, M5 (Velame) had the best result and M4 (Cipó-uva) was the one that least inhibited oxidation. Of the polyfloral honeys, there was not as high a concentration of phenolic compounds as in the others. Coffee, Aroeira, Velame and Polyfloral have the best anti-radical actions. Betônica, Aroeira, Cipó-uva and Pequi inhibited only some bacteria. The best bacterial inhibition results are from Polyfloral.

The inhibitory effect of Ukrainian honey on probiotic bacteria

Honey is used in the food industry as a natural sweetener and has therapeutic effects on the human body. Obtaining quality honey involves using organic preventive and treatment agents in beekeeping. The most common of these agents are probiotic supplements. This research aimed to study honey’s interaction with an inhibitory effect on the growth of microorganisms from the probiotic supplement Immunobacterin-D under laboratory and experimental field conditions. At the first stage of the research, we assessed the effects of ten honey varieties (buckwheat, sunflower, meadow and forest plants, linden) on B. subtilis and B. licheniformis from the dry probiotic supplement. The honey-containing nutrient media had an inhibitory effect on the growth of B. subtilis colonies. After 24 hours of cultivation under aerobic conditions, the concentration of B. subtilis decreased, on average, from 5×1012 colony-forming units in 1 g to 3.2×104 and 2.1×105 CFU/g in samples with monofloral and polyfloral honey, respectively. These results emphasize the need for further research on the symbiotic role of microflora in the stability of the microbiota of the hive and bee colony ecosystem. The next stage of the study investigated the probiotic effect on bee colonies in the field. Observations were made on the sanitary conditions of the hives and the behaviour of bees at the Petrodolyna demo apiary. No differences were found at the macro hive-bee colony ecosystem level between control bee colonies (n = 5) and the experimental ones (n = 5) that had received carbohydrate feeding with added probiotics. This confirms the inhibitory effect of honey on the development of bacteria, which eliminates the risk of uncontrolled growth of B. subtilis and B. licheniformis strain colonies inside the hive and the bacteria getting into bee products. The probiotic had positive effects, increasing the live weight of worker bees by 9.15% by the end of the apiary season compared to the control. This can improve the viability of the bees during wintering. At the last stage of the research, the honey obtained from the experimental colonies was checked for the spores of B. subtilis and B. licheniformis using melissopalynology.